Chhattisgarh towns to be connected by air

September 13th, 2009 RAIPUR - The Chhattisgarh government has sought proposals from private airlines to fly small planes to small industrial towns, plus towns in Maoist-hit parts of the state. The civil aviation department of the state government has asked private airlines to submit proposals by the end of the month.

August 21st, 2009 RAIPUR - Maoist violence was continuing in certain parts of the country because development was not reaching the troubled areas, particularly in states like Chhattisgarh, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said here Friday. Accusing Chhattisgarh's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of failing to reach the fruits of development to vast Maoist-hit areas, Gandhi said: "If the government fails to reach people, then problem begins, and this is the case in Chhattisgarh." "See how Andhra Pradesh tackled the Maoist problem, it actually took the central government welfare schemes to problem-hit areas, but in Chhattisgarh the government is not reaching trouble-hit areas," the Congress leader told a press conference here.

July 23rd, 2009 RAIPUR - Power utility NTPC Ltd has agreed to provide 35 percent of the electricity produced at its upcoming 500 MW stage-III Korba project to Chhattisgarh, a government statement said Thursday. "NTPC (formerly National Thermal Power Corp) has agreed to provide 175 MW power to Chhattisgarh from its 500 MW stage-III Korba project that will begin generation by February 2010," the statement said.

July 15th, 2009 RAIPUR - The Chhattisgarh government Wednesday announced relief measures for families hit by Maoist violence including jobs to dependents of policemen killed while battling rebels. "The state government has decided to give jobs, on compassionate basis and within 60 days, to the relatives of the policemen killed by the Naxalites," Chief Minister Raman Singh told reporters after a cabinet meeting here.

May 1st, 2009 RAIPUR - The mercury has crossed the 46 degree Celsius mark for the first time this summer in Chhattisgarh with the city of Bilaspur recording 46.1 degrees, while the capital Raipur and other major towns recorded temperatures of around 45 degrees. The Meteorological department said Friday that the state has been in the grip of a heat wave.

April 22nd, 2009 RAIPUR - The mercury soared to the season's highest in Chhattisgarh so far, with the temperature hovered around 44 degrees Celsius in several towns including Raipur. Raigarh recorded a maximum of 46 degrees.

April 11th, 2009 RAIPUR - As many as nine candidates in Chhattisgarh have criminals cases pending against them and seven have assets worth over Rs.1 crore (Rs.10 million), a NGO said here Saturday. 'There are nine candidates with criminal cases pending against them contesting Lok Sabha polls in Chhattisgarh,' Gautam Kumar Bandyopadhyay, coordinator of Chhattisgarh Election Watch, told IANS.

April 11th, 2009 RAIPUR - As the time of elections in Chhattisgarh nears, the demand for regional film artists increases. In a bid to woo the voters, the people of Raipur were recently treated with performances by junior and known film artists of Chhattisgarh film industry in an election campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, Ramesh Bains.

April 6th, 2009 RAIPUR - Booker winner Arundhati Roy Monday slammed the Chhattisgarh government for the continuous detention of Binayak Sen, a doctor-turned-human rights activist, who has been in jail for the last 22 months for his alleged Maoist links. Sen was arrested May 14, 2007 under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA), which Roy said 'has a vague, diffused definition of 'unlawful activity'.

February 7th, 2009 RAIPUR - The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will put up candidates for all 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh in the upcoming general elections, the party's state chief said here Sunday. 'The party will contest all 11 Lok Sabha seats on its own,' Dauram Ratnakar, BSP's Chhattisgarh president told IANS.

February 1st, 2009 RAIPUR - The Chhattisgarh police Monday sealed off the border with Maharashtra, where Maoist radicals ambushed a police search squad in Gadchiroli district Sunday, killing 15 state police personnel, officials said. 'The Sunday attack took place very close to Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district border in Maharashtra and we sealed off the forested border because Maoists may sneak into Chhattisgarh following stepped up drive by the police from the other side of the border,' Pawan Deo, deputy inspector general of police, said here.

January 25th, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan took the salute at the Republic Day parade held here Monday and praised the commitment of the security forces battling Maoist insurgency in the state.

January 17th, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh will start generating up to 700 MW power over the next three years using dust from coal washeries, Chief Minister Raman Singh said Sunday. Speaking at the two-day convention on 'Energy security from renewable energy sources' here, he said the country can narrow the widening demand-supply power gap by looking into options to generate power from non-conventional sources.

January 17th, 2009 RAIPUR - In an attempt to end the power crisis in Karnataka, Chhattisgarh will supply about 300 MW electricity to the southern state, an official said Sunday. 'We have formally approved the Karnataka government's request.

December 31st, 2008 RAIPUR - The Chhattisgarh government Thursday announced that it has split the state electricity board into five entities - one holding company and four others to manage transmission, distribution, production and trading. The new companies are - Chhattisgarh State Power Transmission Co.